I was back in Northern California for another extended road trip, this one six
days to the northwest corner of the state, to tackle more
CC-listed summits and
P1Ks in the Six Rivers National Forest. I got through the agenda earlier than
expected, so headed east to Klamath National Forest for more fun there the last
few days. The weather was a tad warm but still spectacular, with clear skies
and only a few brief hours of fog. I had driven north from San Jose the night
before, allowing me to get about half the distance to Crescent City before
pulling over to sleep around midnight. I was up in the morning for another 4hrs
of driving, north on US101 through Eureka and Crescent City, northeast on US199
and then about 17mi southeast up Country Rd 427 (South Fork Rd) and G-O Rd
(Forest Rd 15) to the end of the road at the western edge of the Siskiyou
Wilderness. I had been on the eastern portion of this Wilderness and G-O Rd on
my
previous visit, so it was nice to get to see the other side, but it sure is a
long drive from just above anywhere. It wasn't until 10:45a that I was ready to
do some walking.
Peak 8/Doctor Rock
Along with nearby Chimney Rock, Doctor Rock has been a spiritually significant
summit for the indians of this region for ages. The introduction of the paved
G-O Rd for timber extraction purposes starting in the 1960s created a
partnership of environmentalists and indians to protect the timber-rich
Siskiyou Mtns.
The Siskiyou Wilderness was established in 1984 but had a provision for the
future completion of the road through the Wilderness area, cutting it in two.
Court cases ensued over the course of the remaining decade, going to the
Supreme Court which sided with the Forest Service to complete the road. It
was never completed however, and the establishment of the Smith Wild and
Scenic NRA in 1990
protected this last bit of proposed roadway from construction by including it
in the Siskiyou Wilderness. There is some great reading to be found online
about Doctor Rock and the G-O Rd controversy for those interested.
CC-listed Doctor Rock is located about 2mi south from where at
the highpoint of the road. There is that now serves as a
trail though there is no signage indicating this. All of the route was burned
in the 2008
Blue Fire and then portions again in the 2015 Gasquet Complex Fire. Many trees
managed to survive one or both fires so the area doesn't look devastated - in
fact it's pretty typical for a California forest these days. Oddly named
is a higher bonus peak on the way to Doctor Rock and it was there
I headed
first. Where the road ends on the ridgeline, I was happy to find a good trail
continuing south. I left the trail as it traverses the west side of Peak 8,
climbing through modest brush to .
There is a metal
pole at the summit and good views in all directions. Doctor Rock is immediately
obvious to the south a mile further. It looks imposing from a distance and I
wondered if I'd be able to find a route up (spoiler - I did). I descended the
steeper west side of Peak 8 to return to the trail, then
until
I was just past the saddle with Doctor Rock. Here I turned west to climb what
LoJ showed as a higher point to the northwest of Doctor Rock. It was a short,
easy climb to where it was obvious that
was higher
(I've since gotten LoJ to move their Doctor Rock location to the proper one).
To the northwest rises , more commonly known as Ship Mtn,
and from this vantage the name seems appropriate - like a ship with four sails
deployed. Doctor Rock to the southeast looked difficult from this direction,
too, and it was with a mix of trepidation and adventure that I headed off for
an up-close inspection of the feature.
Doctor Rock stands perhaps 60-80ft high, rising out of an unburned section
of the forest. The
north and east sides are near-vertical with the and
sides offering
the only possible scrambling routes to the summit. In fact, I found one on each
side, both stiff class 3. The harder way, and my ascent route, went up the south
side after a short fight through brush to get to its base. The volcanic rock
is covered in dry lichen that had decent footing - not sure what it would
be like when wet, but possibly slippery. A few big steps leads
to easier class 2 scrambling , merging halfway with the west side
route. I
went down the west side which appears to be the "standard" route though I doubt
it gets many visitors. There was an empty milk jug with a rope tied to it,
purpose unknown, near the bottom of the route. There is an awkward 20-foot
sloping ledge traverse that had me a bit uneasy, but the rest is pretty easy.
The exit (or starting point) goes through the forest understory on
of the rock. The summit is large and open. There was a small circular rock wall
built at , tucked among some short, weather-beaten trees and
shrubs. Though it is not large enough to sleep in, there is enough room to sit
and meditate. There was also a small hearth with some ashes built into the wall,
for warmth on a cold evening. I left here but suspect it
won't last long - probably not the sort of thing Native Americans like to find
on their sacred summits.
After returning to the ground, I found my way back to the trail and then the
pleasant hike back north to my , having taken just over
two hours.
I considered climbing a bonus peak further west near the end of the G-O Rd, but
found the road by a fallen timber. Judging by the amount of
I'd found for many miles of the road, I don't think clearing it is a Forest
Service priority.
Peak 4,946ft/Summit BM/Peak 4,408ft
These are three bonus peaks on my way back down G-O Rd, before the turnoff for
the Red Mtn Lookout. Peak 4,946ft is an easy 10min climb from
where has not recovered significantly since the 2015 fire.
has no views and little of interest. Summit BM is a much
better bonus. near the saddle with Peak 4,946ft, The Summit
Valley Boundary Trail climbs up along this ridgeline heading north, about a
mile to the top. An serves as the trail for the
, but a branches off as it passes within
a short distance from on the west side. There are
open views from the top, with much of the Siskiyou Wilderness visible to
and the Pacific Ocean to .
Peak 4,408ft is found about a mile and a half west of Summit BM. Requiring a
bit more work, I took 20min to reach the summit starting from where G-O Rd
makes a U-turn on the east side of the peak at a gated .
The offers a clear forest understory to make for easy
cross-country. No views from , just trees.
Red Mountain
This P1K is located at the western edge of the national forest, a
along a spur road off G-O Rd. There is
1/4mi below the summit from which one can walk to the
top where and are
located. One can see down to the Klamath River and the gap through the mountains
into which it empties to the Pacific, 9mi to . The observation
deck of can only be accessed from
inside the structure, sealed with a locked door. It does not appear to be in
use anymore. There is another P1K located along the road as it continues
northeast, another 8mi further. Unfortunately the road is gated four miles
from Red Mtn and passes through private property. The low-slung ridgeline that
forms Rattlesnake Mtn just didn't seem interesting enough to start an eight mile
hike in the afternoon. I decided to leave this as a
future exercise when I had my bike with me.
Lems Ridge
After returning to G-O Rd, I continued downhill, back towards the Smith River,
stopping for this bonus peak with more than 700ft of prominence. The topo map
shows an old logging road going to the summit from the northeast. It
but has been extensively to
make using it a chore.
Still, the road made a better route than the very brushy cross-country would
have been. I took about 20min to reach the summit with open views looking
and .
Muslatt Mountain
I next drove back down to the Smith River and County Rd 427, turning right
to start back uphill after descending below 600ft in elevation. This is pretty
characteristic of peakbagging in the heavily convoluted mountain region -
drive up and down one road, then do the same on another. County Rd 427 is also
called the Ship Mtn road as it climbs up and over that mountain. On its way,
it passes by another P1K, Muslatt Mtn. A rough spur road can be driven another
3/4mi to get one within half a mile of the summit. This spur sees little
traffic - I cleared with a saw I carry, but
was too much
work to bother, and close to the end of the road anyway. Because of the low
elevation (3,400ft) I expected it to be a dry, brushy affair that would bring
me little pleasure. It turned out to be somewhat brushy but not terribly, and I
enjoyed its unexpected adventure feel. The mountain is forested with a mix of
oak, madrone and pine. Moss grows on and hangs from
, with the forest understory mostly clear but busy with
many small trees. The route follows up the North Ridge which has an interesting
under the forest which I traveled along, ducking under one
tree branch or another, but having fun. I found along
this ridge to keep me on my toes. itself is buried in the
trees with nary a view, so this
isn't one of its features. I left a register here under a small cairn of rocks
placed on the highest boulder because I felt it deserved one. I don't expect it
will see more than a few visitors in a decade.
Ship Mtn (Four Brothers)
After returning to Ship Mtn Rd, I continued north, driving to the top of
Brother No. 4, the highest of the four and where is
located. The lookout was locked, but the place was obviously in service and
. I
think I had passed the Forest Service employee an hour earlier on the road
before my climb of Muslatt Mtn. Brother No. 4 is
a P1K, but the other brothers all have elevations within 80ft of it. They are
stretched out to over a distance of 1.6mi. For no good
reason, all four were put on the original
CC-list. Probably only one deserves
to be, and my vote would be for the furthest, No. 1. A Daryn Dodge party had
visited the four brothers a year earlier, reporting no difficulties following
the ridgeline. So despite the late start (6:30p), I figured I had enough time
to get to the other three peaks. I drove back down the road a short distance to
a clearing on the crest where I parked and along the
ridgeline.
I found portions of the trail Daryn describes in his PB trip report, using it
in places, but only until it started skirting the east side of Brother No. 3.
Class 2 scrambling leads to the top, as it does for the others as well.
A dispersed pile of old was found at the summit of No. 3,
purpose unknown. The summit is almost the same height as . I
followed to and in
succession; there is even a sort-of No. 1.5 between
the last two that I
almost left a register on, just for fun. It was
nearly 7:30p by the time I reached No. 1. I found
left by Daryn,
Sean and Asaka a year earlier, and signed it while enjoying the views.
I could see portions of the road heading north from Ship Mtn on its way to Bear
Butte Basin and eventually its end at Doe Flat, some miles to the north. It
had taken me an hour to traverse the ridgeline, so I knew I could reverse the
route and get back by 8:30p, almost half an hour before sunset. The thought of
striking off cross-country towards the road intrigued me. Partly I thought it
might make for a faster return, but the evening stroll through unknown brush
issues got a grip on me - seems I hadn't done enough bushwhacking today to
dissuade me. And it was ,
but since it was mostly downhill it
didn't suck like it would have in the uphill direction. I enjoyed the cooler
temps of the late afternoon, pushing through brush while looking for bear runs
that make it easier to get through the stuff. It took me about 20min of such
silly nonsense to find myself on an old road, no longer open to vehicles. This
led a short distance which I then had to walk
back, almost 2 miles. I was hoping someone might drive by to give me a lift,
but alas, it
seemed I had many square miles of mountainous terrain to myself. It was 8:45p
before I
to the jeep only minutes before sunset - seems my return
route was actually longer. Oh well, always nice to make a loop when I can.
I showered in the chill of the wind and setting sun, before changing into some
fresh clothes and driving a few more miles towards Doe Flat before finding a
suitable flat spot off the road. It was nearly dark before I got settled into
my campsite where I took a hurried hour to
download photos and tracks from the day's efforts, eat dinner and clean up
before it was time for bed. A long, but enjoyable day...
Continued...